Rupee falls 22 paise to 74.36 against US dollar in early trade

The Indian rupee depreciated 22 paise to 74.36 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday, amid a muted trend in domestic equities.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a weak note at 74.28, then fell further to 74.36 against the dollar, registering a decline of 22 paise from the last close.

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In the previous session on Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 74.14 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.05 per cent to 94.29.

"As the shortage of certain commodities affect the US, the UK and China its effects can be seen on emerging market currencies and to some extent on equities," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors.

Bhansali further said that "the US dollar spiked up by 60 paise in two days and the rupee still looks vulnerable to the vagaries."

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,896.02 crore, as per exchange data.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 49.18 points or 0.08 per cent lower at 59,364.09. The broader NSE Nifty was trading 20.85 points or 0.12 per cent down at 17,690.45.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 0.34 per cent to USD 78.37 per barrel.